sway bars recommendation for canyon runs
 

do we better off getting the front and rear or just the rear sway bar? any particular brand for recommendation? thicker or narrower bars, which ones better?

just the front, from an autoX perspective. we have a few people with rears also but we do not see a time difference from it. I have a whiteline adjustable 22mm front

I installed Perrin front and rear. I ordered them over whiteline, because the Perrin bars have the bushing coller welded to the bar.

Can't give feedback on the sways, as I installed too many parts at the same time.

How about asking not "which swaybar", but IF and how YOU want to change current handling, in what way, and to what extent.
Different drivers have different handling preferences and you should better ask what change you want to achieve, not just buying and installing suspension parts because internet says so, that different drivers bought & installed in theirs some.

I went with a Progress front bar 70% stiffness increase over stock, which was about the most mild one I could find. Zero complains, I wanted less roll and a bit more stability on corner exit and that's what I got.

basically less body roll, but i guess every sway bar does that. when i had my Lexus IS350 i was told to only install the rear sway bar as the front does nothing for handling, but now i'm hearing the opposite for the 86.

Less body roll .. but also it will make suspension less independent and thus will rob some grip. I'd say if roll is only thing you want to change/reduce, then to proportionally change to stiffer/thicker both swaybars, so to not shift grip bias by reducing grip on only one end. Or to not bother about changing swaybars at all, if you will change also other things, eg. installing coilovers with higher spring rates .. maybe reduced roll due that too will be sufficient even with stock swaybars?

Change the stock front end camber to negative. Sway bars can affect handling in a negative way, You don't get something for nothing. There really is no reason to mess with things. Until you have a better idea of what you want to achieve I'd wait.

I personally like a stiffer front bar for auto x and stiffer rear bar on the track.

It seems you have a 2017 so you have a 18/16mm sway bar setup (140lbs front/180lbs rear) which feels nice with stock camber but can sometimes become too much if you start adding front camber. I personally believe the 16mm bar is to compensate for soft springs, but if you want to keep the stock springs keep the 16mm rear bar.

If you are just going fast in the canyons I would upgrade one side only but don’t over do it on the size. Too big of sway bars will make the car super rough on bumps as each strut/shock assembly can’t act as independently as stock. As a reference a 22mm bar is 3x stiffer than an 18mm. 20mm solid front is the biggest I’d run on the street, with 19mm being preferable.

I know you're just providing a general guideline, but I'd like to clarify for anyone reading that an increase in diameter does not equal a proportional increase in stiffness. Always check the stiffness quoted by the manufacture when choosing a bar, instead of basing it of mm of diameter. Stiffness is determined by a multitude of things in addition to overall diameter, including thickness of bar inner wall, metal composition, spring shape (blade vs. tube) and the number and angle of bends in the bar from side to side. Specs can vary wildly for this reason, even among bars that appear identical, so again always check the manufactures specs. :thumbup:

You say body roll like it's a bad thing.

Are you trying to modify the steering? That is, less/more under-steer/over-steer?

If you like the way the car feels now and just want to reduce lean in corners, then get a matched set so you don't change the roll stiffness bias. Adding a larger bar to only one (either) end of the car will totally change the cornering dynamics.

IMO, negative camber up front (bolts or plates) + lowering springs (careful here, combined with plates can rob too much bump travel) >> stiffer sway(s)

This